Newsline

Women’s Soccer announces new assistant coaches for 2008-2009

Release Date:

September 4, 2008

Contact:

The Office of Sports Information

(716) 649-7900 ext. 333

Head Coach James Ruggiero and the women’s soccer team are pleased to announce the hiring of three former Hilbert College student-athletes to the staff this fall. “I am extremely excited to bring three former women’s soccer players to my staff. Each of these young ladies offers experience, program success, academic success, and creative new ideas to the program.

”Beata Fijalkowski will be our first assistant and her focus will be on recruitment. While she will be involved in all aspects of the program; Ruggiero will rely on her years as the assistant basketball coach to help in identifying quality prospective student-athletes. “Beata was one of the first student-athletes I met here when I started ten years ago. She’s a quality individual that certainly possesses the ability to coach, mentor, and help teach our current players”. This past spring Fijalkowski was presented for induction into the Hilbert College Athletic Hall of Fame by coach Ruggiero. “Beata certainly deserved that honor, she was a great four sport athlete here, preformed tremendously in the athletic arena, but also was well respected as a student-athlete. I’m extremely proud of being a small part of her collegiate experience”.

Cristina DiSano will become the second assistant for her former coach just months after graduating from Hilbert College. “Cristina was one of the most talented players we’ve had here at Hilbert. She also brings a great deal of experience to the program.” DiSano received the coaches award after her senior season and was a four year starter for the lady hawks. “I’m really pleased that Cristina wanted to give back to our program, she’ll do very well. Her focus will be on training and match preparation”.

Katrina Galofaro rounds out the 2008 coaching staff as a volunteer assistant. “Kat is going to help us when she can and since she really knows our system she’s going to put her attention on preparing for specific opponents” Galofaro, was a four time AMCC conference “academic” selection and a conference second team selection her senior season. “Kat is very respected by the players on the squad and they’ll certainly want the information that she’ll pass along”.

Hilbert College, located in suburban Hamburg, N.Y., south of Buffalo, is a private four-year college founded in 1957 in the Catholic Franciscan tradition. With nearly 1,100 students, Hilbert is a dynamic Western New York college that offers career-focused majors, including one of the top criminal justice programs in the region, and more than 50 minors and concentrations. The college’s engaging, student-centered campus community offers numerous leadership, internship, and service learning opportunities from which students launch successful careers while making positive changes in their communities. The Hilbert Blueprint promotes a well-rounded student experience over four years – starting with the Foundations Seminar in the freshman year, followed by Sophomore Service, Junior Symposium, and culminating with the Senior Capstone. Hilbert has expanded its academic offerings with the college’s first graduate programs and new Accelerated Degree Programs geared to adult learners.